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Sony Mobile insists it is 'here to stay' — despite rumors suggesting otherwise — and it is spending big on a global brand ad campaign
(Sony Mobile)
Sony Mobile defiantly declared it is "here to stay" and is making a huge outward sign of confidence this month with a global brand campaign, with an equivalent marketing spend to the launch of its Z3 handset.
That's significant because it comes just weeks after Sony's chief executive Kazuo Hirai told the BBC there was "no guarantee" for its mobile or other divisions. In February Sony announced a new corporate strategy that will see it cut spend on mobile devices as part of its efforts to return to profitability. The company posted a full-year net loss of 128.4 billion yen ($1.1 billion) for the year to March 31 2014. But in its most recent quarter, operating profit was 182 billion yen ($1.5 billion), up 2.2% on its previous forecast, as it was boosted by its PlayStation division and its cost-cutting exercise.
Speaking with journalists in London this week, Sony Mobile's marketing director for UK, Ireland, and Benelux Catherine Cherry insisted that "Sony Mobile is here to say, we are absolutely going to focus on delivering profitable growth."
To help achieve that growth, a new global marketing campaign created by advertising agency Adam&EveDDB launches on Thursday. Cherry said the Z3 is fast becoming its "best selling smartphone ever" but that is not enough to achieve its goals.
(Sony Mobile)
Internally, Sony Mobile has a new, long-term brand promise and positioning: "We enable you to make your every day more extraordinary."
Externally, the company is launching a major campaign that runs across TV, billboards, and digital, which plays around the wording "I can" to show how its smartphones enable consumers to achieve something in their lives. "I can see in the dark," "I can survive underwater," "I can see through walls," "I can shape tomorrow," "I can silence crowds," and "I can stay awake for days," are some of the sentences used by the "real-life Sony fans" that star in the outdoor and TV ads.
The wording and imagery is more "exciting and provocative" than previous campaigns, Cherry said, adding that there is an "intentional sense of ambiguity" that will make people read beyond the headlines like "I can stay awake for days" to read on to discover that it means the smartphone has a longer battery life than some competitors. Or that "I can see through walls" refers to its gaming capabilities with PlayStation 4 Remote Play.
Cherry said Sony Mobile never reveals media spend, but that it would be "similar to campaigns in the past" and similar to its Z3 launch campaign spend.
Sony Mobile still has some way to go to really start competing in the global mobile market in terms of share. It had just a 2% share of global mobile phone sales in 2014, according to Gartner, and that's despite the Z3 being on to its way to becoming its best-selling smartphone ever. When looking at worldwide smartphone sales, Sony doesn't even figure in the top 5 that Gartner provides, and simply falls into the "others" category.
(Gartner)
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